Die Hard
Die Hard is the first movie in the Die Hard film series. It was released on July 15, 1988 and was written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza and directed by John McTiernan. It was a huge critical and commercial success and propelled the careers of many of the stars. It is still considered one of the greatest action movies of all time, and continues to be relevant in pop culture. In the film, NYPD officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) must fight a group of well equipped terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) who have seized the Nakatomi Plaza on Christmas Eve to rob a corporate vault containing million of dollars in bearer bonds. McClane must make sure his wife Holly Gennero (Bonnie Bedelia) and the other hostages stay safe while helping Sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) control the situation. Meanwhile, unscrupulous journalist Richard Thornburg (William Atherton) unknowingly makes things harder for McClane. The movie is based on a 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever. Summary McClane], a detective with the NYPD, arrives in Los Angeles to attempt a Christmas reunion with his estranged wife Holly. He is taken by limousine driver Argyle to her workplace, the highrise Nakatomi Plaza. Joining the Nakatomi Christmas party, McClane finally finds Holly and they immediately get into an argument over her use of her maiden name Gennero. Holly leaves John alone in a small room near the party. A gang led by the German terrorist Hans Gruber invades and secures the building, under the pretense of wishing to secure the release of various terrorist operatives. The party-goers are subdued and it is revealed that the group are really thieves who plan to steal millions of dollars in bearer bonds from the building's security vault. When Holly's boss Takagi does not provide the vault combination, he is killed and Theo, the gang's technical mastermind, begins disabling the sequential vault locks. McClane manages to slip away during the round-up of the party-goers, albeit without his shoes. His attempt to summon help via the building's fire alarm brings him into confrontation with a gang member named Tony. He kills Tony, prompting the man's vengeful brother Karl to lead a hunt for the policeman through the building. McClane secures the attention of a patrolling LAPD officer, Sergeant Al Powell, by dropping the body of one of his pursuers onto the hood of the officer's car, causing the terrorists to shoot at the car. The LAPD and the FBI respond in force, but this merely accelerates Gruber's original timetable. McClane continues his fight from within, picking off gang-members one by one, with Powell as his only ally outside the building. After McClane captures Gruber's vital supply of explosive detonators, Gruber finds himself in an unexpected face-to-face confrontation with him; the mastermind's attempt at pretending to be an escaped hostage is successful enough to recover the detonators. Back outside the building, an irresponsible TV reporter named Richard Thornburg accidentally alerts Gruber to the fact that Holly is McClane's wife. He takes her aside as a special hostage. McClane realizes that Gruber's plan is to blow up the hostages on the roof of the building, covering the gang's escape. McClane gets the hostages back off the roof, but Gruber still sets off the explosion, destroying an FBI helicopter. McClane escapes the blast by jumping over the side of the building with a fire hose around his waist and shooting his way into an office a couple of stories down. Theo prepares a getaway van for the gang in the underground garage, where Argyle rams his limousine into the van, gets out and knocks Theo out. McClane confronts Gruber one last time high up in the tower, with Holly being held at gunpoint. McClane tricks Gruber with a faked surrender, then shoots the man, who falls 32 stories to his death. As McClane and his wife leave the building, Karl reappears one last time, and is gunned down by Powell, who had earlier confided to McClane that mistakenly shooting and killing a teenager had rendered him emotionally unable to draw his gun. Holly and John are approached by Thornburg, who is still relentlessly angling for a fresh scoop. Holly punches the reporter and she and John depart the scene in Argyle's limo. Plot On Christmas Eve 1988 John McClane sits on a flight headed towards Los Angeles, CA. A fellow passenger notices he is stressed about the flight and recommends that he take he make barefoot fists with his toes on carpet after he arrives to his destination as a cure for jetlag. After landing and collecting his luggage, John sees a chauffer holding a sign labeled "McClane". The driver, Argyle drives him to Nakatomi Plaza and on the way roots out that John still works as a police detective in New York City but that his wife, Holly Gennero, relocated to California for a great career. Both John and Holly thought the other would bend and move to join the other, but that they are both too hard headed. Meanwhile, at Nakatomi Plaza Joe Takagi addresses the employees of the Nakatomi Corporation at their company Christmas party in the Floor 30 foyer. He announces that that day was one of the most successful days in the company's history. Holly Gennero walks through the crowd, finishing up some paperwork. As she walks down a hallway her co-worker Harry Ellis flirts with her. When she arrives at her office, she excuses her pregnant secretary Ginny to go join the party, and shows Harry the door as well. She then speaks with her young daughter Lucy and nanny Paulina on the phone about John's arrival, stating that she isn't certain if he made his flight or not. She looks at a photo of her, John, and their children; sighs; and places it face down on the shelf. John's limo pulls up to the entry of Nakatomi Plaza. Argyle tells him he will wait in the garage until John calls and informs him that he's made other plans. John greets the security guard and uses a computer to find out that Holly has changed her last name to her maiden name, Gennero. He takes the elevator to the 30th floor, walks through the party and meets Joe Takagi who shows him to Holly's office. In the office sits Harry Ellis, who obviously finished snorting cocaine moments earlier. He introduces himself and John informs him that he "missed some", and Harry quickly brushes his nose with his fingers. Holly enters, and the two jilted lovers give each other a subtle greeting across the room. After informing John that Holly just closed the bigest deal in the company's history, Joe and Harry leave as John asks for a place to wash up. As John washes up, the two comment that the missed each other but quickly begin arguing about Holly's decision to move to California. They are interrupted by Ginny who requests Holly join the party. A Mercedes pulls up to the Nakatomi Plaza entry as a courier truck pulls into the garage. Theo and Karl approach the security guard at his desk while Theo talks about basketball nonchalantly, and Karl shoots the guard in the forehead. Theo hops over the desk and begins using a computer to shut off all the elevators in the building except one, as well as sealing all the exists to the garage and the building. Karl uses a flash grenade and his machine gun to take out the other security guard. In the garage, Hans Gruber and the rest of the team of terrorists exists from the back of the courier truck. Hans seals the front door while Eddie puts on the guard's jacket and mans the desk. Tony makes his way to the telephone junction boxes and begins patching in to the system. He barely finishes patching in before his brother Karl uses a chain saw to cut through all the phone cords to prevent any calls from leaving the building. Meanwhile, a barefoot John is making fists with his toes and is surprised it is working to cure his jetlag. He calls Argyle but is cut off (by Karl's cutting of the phone lines). Hans and some of his henchmen arrive via elevator to the Christmas party and begin fairing at the ceiling to capture everyone's attention. John hears the gunshots and is able to sneak out of the office into the stairwell with his police-issued handgun. He nearly enters floor 31, but notices other henchmen wheeling equipment through the hallway. He continues up to Floor 32 which is under construction, where he tries to gather his thoughts and think of a way to alert authorities. In the foyer, Hans informs the Nakatomi Corporation employees that he is going to teach the company a lesson on "the real use of power" because their company has "a legacy of greed". He calls out for Joe Takagi, but Holly tells Joe to stand back. He steps forward after Hans lists several detailed facts about his life. Hans greets him and the two take the elevator to Floor 34. In the board room, Theo asks Takagi for the CEO daily key code and encryption number. Takagi insists that he doesn't have them, and even if he did they couldn't steal any information that would hurt the company. Hans corrects him that they aren't after information, but the $640 Million in bearer bonds in the company's vault. John McClane enters from the stairwell and overhears the interrogation of Takagi. Hans gives Takagi to the count of three to give him the codes, but he refuses. Hans shoots him in the head, orders Tony to dispose of the body and Theo to begin hacking into the vault. John makes a noise as he escapes from the room, but the terrorists don't find him and dismiss the noise. In the garage, Argyle listens to loud music in the limo, talking to a girl on the phone. Heinrich, Marco, and Uli work in a room full of the building's heating and cooling machinery. They wire the room with what appears to be explosives. Theo and Hans walk to the vault while Theo explains the vault's seven layers of security. He stresses that he can complete the first six, but that the seventh lock, a electromagnetic system, can not be cut locally. Hans guarantees he has a plan. John curses at himself on Floor 32 and suddenly comes up with a plan: pull the fire alarm. Eddie informs Hans of the alarm, and Hans orders him to call 911 to disable the alarm and turn off the system. John celebrates the approaching fire trucks but gets angry when they turn off their sirens and turn around. Tony enters the room and John hides. He searches for John in the labyrinth of the construction. The fight, crashing through drywall and aluminum beams and stumble down a stairwell. Tony dies in the fall. In the vault, Theo bypasses the first level of security and begins using a drill to proceed the heist. John takes Tony's radio, lighter, and machine gun. He then dresses up Tony's body on a chair in the elevator and sends it down to the Christmas party. Hans frightens the party by telling them that Mr. Takagi has been killed, but is interrupted by the arrival of Tony's body. He is angered by the message on Tony's sweatshirt: "Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho." Riding on top of the elevator, John listens to the terrorists and takes notes on his arm. He rides the elevator to the top floor and sneaks out to the roof. He uses the CV radio to call out on frequency 9 but is chided by the 911 operator. He yells at her to send help, but Karl and others begin shooting at him, prompting him to evade. The operator decides to send a sole officer to investigate. Al Powell receives the call while buying Twinkies for his pregnant wife. On the roof, John evades the gunfire and makes his way into a dead-end closet with a large ventilation fan. He blocks the fan with his gun, climbs through, and evades the terrorists back to Floor 35. Still pursued, he is cornered in the elevator shaft and must climb down the ventilation shaft to Floor 34. He uses his machine gun and it's strap to climb down the ventilation shaft, but the strap slips free from the gun and he falls a couple of floors. He manages to catch himself on a ledge and climb into a horizontal vent. He uses the lighter to see in the vent, but Karl sees the light and follows him to Floor 31. Karl shoots at the ducts and begins pressing them, checking for body weight, but is called away before he finds John. McClane exits the shaft and watches as Al enters the building and is fooled by Eddie disguised as a security guard. John attempts to break the window with a chair but is spotted from the roof, so Marco and Heinrich run to stop him. Marco appears to surrender, but John shoots Heinrich when he runs in. Marco then traps John under the conference table by standing on top and shooting toward the ground. At the end of the table, John reloads his weapon and shoots Marco through the table, killing him. He sees Al leaving the building, and throws Marco's body on his car to alert him that there is trouble. The terrorists open fire on Al's car and he calls for backup and manages to drive in reverse over a retaining wall. He is jostled, but is able to walk out of the car. In a news equipment room, journalist Richard Thornburg overhears the call for help on a police scanner. He argues with a news producer and insults a news host seconds before he goes on the air, and is given a truck to investigate the story. As police arrive at Nakatomi Plaza, John harasses Hans over the radio. Hans insults him for watching too many cowboy shows on TV, but John takes it as a compliment, insisting he likes Roy Rodgers. He then signs off by saying "Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!". Hans gets a status report from his men, and learns that Theo is making good progress on the vault, but that Heinrich's bag of detonators has been taken by John. He orders Fritz to retrieve the detonators. Al radios John, who briefly explains what is happening. Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson arrives, insults Al, and takes command. Hans, who has chosen Holly's office as a command post, is approached by Holly who makes two simple demands: a couch for Ginny and that the terrorists let the hostages use the bathroom. She makes sure to use "Gennero" so that she can't be linked to John. Argyle turns on the TV in the limo and notices that the building he is under is under siege. He looks for an exist from the garage but finds himself trapped, but turns on his CV radio to overhear John and Al's conversation. The police set up spotlights and send a four man team to enter the building. John is recommended by Al to sit tight, but he knows the terrorists have extremely heavy artillery. Uli and Eddie fire at the team as they try to break in the front door so the police department sends in an RV to rescue the men. Hans orders James and another henchman to take down the tank with a rocket launcher. He then orders them to hit it with another rocket, upsetting John enough to throw some C4 down the elevator shaft, blowing up the entire second floor and killing James and Kristoff. The police and Thornburg look on in amazement. Deputy Robinson takes the radio from Al, but John insults him and informs him that he will only speak with Al. Back in the foyer, Harry is getting antsy so he snorts more cocaine and gets up to talk to Hans. He tells Hans that he can get John to cooperate. He gives Hans John's name and occupation and uses Hans' radio to talk to John. Thornburg sends an assistant to look up McClane's information while Harry tries to convince John to give over the detonators. Harry pretends that he is John's good friend but he doesn't recognize that Hans plans to kill him if John didn't cooperate. John struggles to barter with Hans to spare Harry, but Harry sticks to pretending. John refuses to respond to Harry's friendly requests to give back the detonators so Hans shoots Harry. Everyone inside and outside the building is shocked. Robinson dismisses Al to go home, but he refuses to leave until the situation is resolved. Robinson believes Harry would still be alive if John turned himself if, but John radios back with his own opinion on the matter. Hans finally addresses the police and begins to list the names of "fellow freedom fighters he wants released from prisons around the world. He also orders a helicopter to take him and the hostages to the airport. John and Al don't buy the story and realize that something else is afoot. Special Agent Johnson and Agent Johnson arrive from the FBI and take over control from Deputy Chief Robinson. Hans inspects the explosives in the mechanical room and is cornered by John. He decides to pretend to be an escaped hostage and John believes it. On Floor 33 John gives him a handgun which Hans pulls on him instantly. John tries to get him to reveal his plan, but Hans pulls the trigger rather than spoiling his plot. The gun was never loaded, but before John can arrest or shoot Hans the elevator arrives with Karl, Franco and Fritz. John manages to shoot Franco and Fritz, but runs out of bullets. Hans, knowing John is barefoot, has Karl shoot the glass walls of the office John is trapped in. They use a flash grenade but John has vanished by the time the smoke has cleared. He left the bag with the detonators. Hans gives Uli the detonators and Hans smashes some decorations at the Christmas party. Holly celebrates his anger, taking it as a sign that John is still alive. John slinks into a bathroom with bloody feet which he begins to clean and bandage. Theo informs Hans that he has broken through the first six levels of the vault's security and that he is ready for Hans to disengage the final electromagnetic lock. Cast Law enforcement * Bruce Willis as Detective John McClane * Reginald VelJohnson as Sergeant Al Powell * Paul Gleason as Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson * Robert Davi as FBI Special Agent Johnson * Grand L. Bush as FBI Agent Johnson * Police operator Hostages * Bonnie Bedelia as Holly Gennero McClane * Hart Bochner as Harry Ellis * James Shigeta as Joe Takagi * as Ginny (pregnant secretary) Terrorists * Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber * Alexander Godunov as Karl * Dennis Hayden as Eddie * Clarence Gilyard Jr. as Theo * Bruno Doyon as Franco * Andreas Wisniewski as Tony * Al Leong as Uli * Joey Plewa as Alexander * Lorenzo Caccialanza as Marco * Gérard Bonn as Kristoff * Gary Roberts as Heinrich * Hans Buhringer as Fritz * Wilhelm von Homburg as James * Andreas Wisniewski as Tony Others * De'voreaux White as Argyle * William Atherton as Richard Thornburg * Lucy McClane * John McClane, Jr. * Paulina - McClane nanny * Nakatoma Plaza Guard * Guard #2 Production and distribution The Nakatomi building is actually Twentieth Century Fox headquarters, and the company charged itself rent for use of the (unfinished) building as if the production were simply another tenant of the building, as well as damages for the destruction of the sidewalk guardrail destroyed by the LAPD armored personnel carrier. According to commentary from the movie's DVD release, Alan Rickman's surprise when Gruber is dropped from the building is genuine: the director chose to release Rickman a full second before he expected it in order to get genuine surprise, a move which angered Rickman. Whenever Gruber fires his weapon, the scene cuts away. McTiernan did this to avoid showing Rickman's involuntary habit of flinching when the gun recoiled.[http://imdb.com/title/tt0095016/trivia IMDb Trivia for Die Hard] In the German dub, the names and backgrounds of the German-born terrorists were changed into English forms (mostly into their British equivalents): Hans became Jack, Karl became Charlie, Heinrich turned into Henry. The new background depicts them as radical Irish activists having gone freelance and for profit rather than ideals. This was because German terrorism (especially by the Rote Armee Fraktion) was still considered a sensitive issue by the German government in the 1980s. Because the title of the movie is an idiom somewhat unique to the English language, it has been changed for different market releases to an extent rarely seen. It was renamed Big Building Fight in Thailand. In Spain, it was renamed La Jungla de Cristal (The Glass Jungle). In Latin America it was renamed Duro de Matar (Hard to Kill), since "Die Hard", does not translate well. In Russia the film was named Крепкий Орешек (A Hard Nut to Crack) (word-for-word — Hard Nutlet). In Poland it was named Szklana Pułapka (The Glass Trap). In Portugal it was named Assalto ao Arranha-Céus '' (''Assault to the Skyscraper). In Greece it was named Πολύ σκληρός για να πεθάνει (Too tough to die). In Norway it was named Operasjon Skyskraper, which translates into "Operation Skyscraper". It was later changed to its original name. In France, it was named Piège de Cristal (The Crystal Trap). In Yugoslavia, the film was named Umri Muški (Die like a Man). In Romania, it was renamed Greu de ucis (Hard To Kill, like the Latin American title). In Finland, the film was named Vain kuolleen ruumiini yli (Only over my dead body). In Germany, the title was Stirb langsam (Die Slowly). The Hungarian title was Drágán add az életed (Give your life expensive). In Estonia, the title was translated to Visa Hing (Sturdy Soul). In Israel, the title was translated to מת לחיות (Dying to Live). In Czech Republic, the title was translated to Smrtonosná Past (Lethal Trap). In China it became "終極警探" ("Ultimate Detective"). Reception When Die Hard was released, it was considered one of the best action films of its era. This is probably in part due to the fact that there are few artificial plot points in the story. It is said to have reinvented the action genre and set the 90s for action/thriller movies such as Under Siege and Passenger 57. "Die Hard on a _____" became a common way to describe the plot of many of the action films that came in its wake. For example, for the 1990s action flick, Speed it was called "Die Hard on a bus" http://www.foxhome.com/diehard/trinity/dh1/ The movie was also responsible for creating the "action star" archetype that is a far more fallible and human hero, wearing few pieces of clothing, speaking few words (including "one-liners") and always having a rough look across their face.The Movies of the Eighties (1990) by Ron Base and David Haslam. Die Hard grossed $80,707,729 at the U.S. Box Office.Yahoo! Die Hard Movie Details It was highly acclaimed by criticsRottenTomatoes Aggregated Film Reviews and spawned three sequels Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), and Live Free or Die Hard. "Yippee Ki Yay Motherfucker" in the movie was voted as the #96 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere magazine in 2007. In the 22 June 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly, it was named the number one best action movie of all time."Die Hard" tops magazine list of best action films Sequels * Die Hard 2 * Die Hard with a Vengeance * Live Free or Die Hard Video games A number of video games based on the Die Hard series of films have been made, including Die Hard Trilogy, Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas, Die Hard Arcade, Die Hard: Vendetta, and Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza. There was also an NES video game based on the original movie. See also * Weapons of Die Hard * Spy Hard References External links * http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/ * http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/die_hard/ * Script 1